Laurel Brunner of Digital Dots took the mic in the audience and made the point that print is indeed sexy because it shapes what we know, how we learn, and how society is shaped. Her comments received solid applause from the audience.

The other thing Laurel said that makes print sexy is that it is tactile and visual. You want to hold a book. You sometimes buy a book just because you like a cover.

The sexiness of printing was contrasted with a description of printing as being more like spoons and lawnmowers (according to Edward Carr). In other words, printing technology is something that you don't necessarily expect to change much over time.

"Printing technology is something that you don't necessarily expect to change much over time."

This is exactly the sort of false impression that the industry needs to dispell. I can think of few industries out there which have undergone such a prolonged or radical technological tranformation as the printing industry. For our first 400 years things were relatively stable. Then, in 1814, starting with the introduction of the first steam driven presses, we've entered into an extended period of technological revolution: Letterpress gave way to Gravure, Flexo, and Litho and now the mainstreaming of digital. Handset type begat hot metal begat photo typesetting begat digital.

We are agents of change and we are ourselves in a constant state of flux.

You guys are the 33135 best, thanks so much for the help.